Refrigeration apparatus



Dec. 25, 1934. e. F. FORSTHOEFEL REFRIGERATION APPARATUS Filed Dec. 31, 1931 WITNESSES INVENTOR GREGG F FORSTHOEFEL ATTORNEY v Patented Deg 25, 1934 A L UNl'lEDdSTATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATION APPARATUS Gregg F. Forsthoefel, Springfield, Mass., assignor to Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 31, 1931, Serial No. 584,227

13 Claims. (Cl. 20-35) My invention relates to refrigerator cabinet It is an object of my invention, therefore, to construction and particularly to means for eifectprovide tight, non-hygroscopic, non-metallic, and ing thermal insulation of refrigerator cabinets heat-insulating strips between the inner and and the like. outer walls of a refrigerator cabinet or the like,

' Refrigerator cabinets have been constructed which are fastened to the walls by suitable clamp- 5 having inner and outer metallic walls with strips ing means, whichv obviate the necessity of providof non-hygroscopic non-metallic material such 'ing a wooden framework between the walls of as sold under-the trade names of bakelite or the cabinet per p y 0f the p n thereofmicarta connecting the walls of the cabinet, in- It is another object oi the invention to provide cluding both the cooling chamber and the cloclamping means for the above-mentioned strips 10 sure therefor, peripherally of the opening of the which are heat-insulating and heat-insulated cabinet. These strips are utilized for preventing d hich wi e flexible e o to compensate moisture from entering between the walls and for difierences in expansion of various elements lowering the efflciency or the heat insulation of of. a refri or c inet and for str ss s and the cabinet, for offering resistance to the flow of strains imposed upon the cabinet in 151% 15 heat between the walls, for maintaining the walls t is S i anot e Obje t of t e invention to in spaced relation and also for imparting a neat provide a thermal seal between the inner and and finished appearance to the cabinet. outer walls of a refrigerator cabinet which is The inner and outer walls of the cabinet are quickly and easily applied thereto. preferably not connected together by any ma- It is a further object of my invention to pro- 20 terial which is a good conductor of heat since the vide a thermal seal between the inner and outer temperature difierential between the inner and walls of a refrigerator cabinet which comprises outer metallic walls of a refrigerator cabinet is non-hygroscopic, non-metallic heat-insulating great and heat is readily conducted into the food strips fastened between the walls by clamping chamber of the refrigerator. 1 Condensation on means, the strips and clamping means forming .the cabinet occurs for the most part between the the sole connection between the inner and outer inner and outer walls of the cabinet adjacent to walls of the cabinet peripherally of the opening the door closure, and is likely to warp any hygrothereof. I

scopic material in the vicinity thereof so that A further object of my invention is to provide,

moisture enters the insulation of the cabinet. in connection with a non-hygroscopic, non-me- 30 For these reasons non-hygroscopic, non-metallic, tallic, and heat-insulating cover or molding strip and heat-insulating strips connecting the inner for a refrigerator door construction, clamping and outer walls of the cabinet are desirable, and means carried by the strip which cooperates with. as stated have been widely used. the strip to keep the latter pressed against seat- Where a wooden framework has been disposed ing surfaces on the inner and outer walls of the 35 between the walls of the cabinet to provide for cabinet and which cooperates with the strip and fastening of the strips to the cabinet, moisture the walls to resist relative displacement thereof. may enter the wooden framework and increase These and other objects are effected by my inits heat conductivity. Also, moisture may enter vention, as will be apparent from the following the cabinet insulation because of the warping of description and claims taken in connection with 40 the framework whereby the efficiency of the cabithe accompanying drawing forming a part of net insulation is decreased this application, in which:

It has also been suggested that the non-hygro- Fig. 1 is an elevational perspective view of a rescopic non-metallic strips be fastened directly to frigerator cabinet constructed in accordance with the walls of the cabinet; however, the strip may an embodiment of my invention 45 be subject to more or less strain at the regions Fig. 2 is an enlarged partial'sectional view of of the fastening means, such as, for example, a refrigerator cabinet taken on line II-H of screws, due to differential expansion either of the Fig. 1; wall elements of the box structure or of the door. Fig. 3 is an enlarged perspective view of the Furthermore, the strips and connections are subclamping means utilized in my invention; and. 5 ject to stressed conditions incident to opening Fig. 4 is a cross sectional view of the clamping and closing the door or handling the \cabinet. means taken on line IVIV of Fig. 3.

These conditions may result in looseness about My invention is concerned particularly with the screws, permitting moisture to enter the an improved door construction connection beinsulation. tween the inner and outer walls either of the box 55 scopic non-metallic, heat insulating strips, clamping means of thin resilient metal which preferably extend the entire length of each side of the cabinet peripherally of the opening thereof, and which engage the inner and outer walls so that edge portions of the latter are clamped between the non-hygroscopic, non-metallic strips overlapping the edge portions and the resilient metal. Heat insulating material is preferably disposed between the metal clamping means and the metal walls. The inner and outer door construction peripheral wall edges are bent or flanged backwardly with respect to the non-hygroscopic, non-metallic strip seating surfaces and the clamping means is recessed so that the flanges and recesses cooperate somewhat like tongue and groove connections to resist relative displacement of the non-hygroscopic, non-metallic and inner and outer walls. The non-hygroscopic, non-metallic strips are held in place by the clamping means and the strips and clamping means are held together by screws passing through openings in the strip and the clamping means and engaging resilient speed nuts fastened to the clamping means. The strips are, therefore, held tightly and resiliently in place by the clamping means, and the two form a connecting member which provides the sole connection between the walls of the cabinet, the insulating material on the metal walls being ponsidered as a part of the wall, if used. The clamping means, by extending peripherally of the door construction, assists in forming a moisture proof seal for the space between the walls of the cabinet containing heat insulating material.

Referring specifically to the drawing for a detailed description of the invention, numeral 1 designates generally a refrigerator cabinet including a box structure 2 having an opening 3 and a door 4. The box structure 2 has inner and outer metallic walls 5 and 7, and the door 4 is likewise constructed with inner and outer metallic walls 9 and 11. Heat insulation 8 is disposed between the walls of the cooling box structure 2 and the door 4, and a gasket 10 is provided between the cooling box 2 and the door 4.

The inner and outer box walls 5 and '7 are bent to provide marginal portions 11a and 12 having outer seats 13 and 14 for the non-hygroscopic and heat-insulating strip 15 overlapping and seated against the seats. The strip 15 is held seated by means fully described hereinafter.

The door walls 9 and 11 are especially modified to provide outer seats for the strip 15 in a manner similar to that already described. The inner wall 9 has a marginal portion 19 providing an outer seat 20. The outer wall 11 is folded over to provide the usual door overlapping portion 21, to the back face of which is secured the gasket 10, the gasket having a. flange portion 22 having a front seat 23. It will, therefore, be apparent that the seat 23 is provided on a part which is in effect integral with the outer wall 11. The non-hygroscopic and heat insulating strips 15 for the door are seated against the outer seats and 23.

Referring now to the means for holding or clamping the non-hygroscopic and heat-insulating strips 15 in contact with the seats 13 and 14 and the seats 20 and 23 with the strips overlapping the seats, the marginal portions 11a and 12 are provided with backwardly-extending flange portions 24 and 25 and the marginal portion 19 of the inner wall 9, and the outer wall 11 are provided, respectively, with backwardly-extending flange portions 26 and 27. An inner resilient metallic strip 28 is secured to each outer strip 15 by suitable means, for example, by the screws 29, and the inner metallic strips are preferably recessed to provide longitudinally extending side grooves 30 arranged to cooperate with the backwardly-extending flanges 24, 25, 26 and 2'7 to hold the heat-insulating and non-hygroscopic strips 15 and the inner and outer walls in place.

The resilient metallic strip elements 28 are so constructed and related to the inner and outer walls as to minimize heat transmission. Instead of using an inner spring strip of sheet form, the latter is cut outto provide a latticeslike formation consisting of side members 31 connected by cross bars 32, and the structure is deformed so as to increase its stiffness, permitting of light material of minimum cross section with consequent low heat transmission and with retention of maximum stiff spring action. The modification for this purpose, as shown, preferably consists in making the side members 31 in channel form or arcuate in cross-section to provide the recesses 30 alreadyreferred to, and the cross bars 32 also include trough-like or rib formations to give stiffness. Preferably, the inner metallic strips 28 aremade of an alloy steel having low heat conductivity, for example, stainless steel. In addition to the structural design providing minimum heat transmission area and the use of material having high heat resistance, resistance to the transmission of heat is preferably further increased preferably by the provision of insulating material 33 between the side members 31 and the flanges 24, 25, 26 and 27.

The inner spring strip 28 is preferably connected to the outer non-hygroscopic and heatinsulating strip 15 by screws passing through suitable apertures formed in the strips 15 and in the cross bars 32. .Speed nuts 34 are carried by the cross bars at the rear sides thereof, the speed nuts preferably consisting of bowed strips each spotwelded at one end to the cross bar, as shown at 35.

From the foregoing, it will be apparent that I have provided a heat-insulating and non-hygroscopic strip which overlaps marginal portions of inner and outer walls in a refrigerator door construction, the strip cooperating with means which not only maintains the strip seated but also holds the strip and inner and outer walls in place. Since the non-hygroscopic heat-insulating strip is not fastened directly to inner and outer walls but merely rests thereon, and since the connection between the inner spring strip and the inner and outer walls is of the tongue-and-groove type, it will be apparent that the inner and outer walls may be subject to differential expansion and contraction effects or to shocks without stressing the structure at the connecting regions. Furthermore, connection of the inner and outer walls and maintenance of the heat-insulating and nonheat flow, being made of material having low heat conductivity and also preferably being spaced from the walls by means of heat-insulating material. I While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that it is not so limited, but is susceptible of various changes and modifications, without departing from the spirit thereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall be placed thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specifically set forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a refrigerator cabinetconstruction, inner and outer metallic walls, separated by heat-insulating material and provided with margins having outer and inner seat portions, a non-hygroscopic and heat-insulating strip overlapping and seated against the outer seat portions, and spring means carried by the stripand cooperating with said inner seat portions to maintain the strip seated.

2. In a refrigerator cabinet constructiominner and outer metallic walls separated by heat-insulating material and provided with margins having outer and inner seat portions, a non-hygroscopic and heat-insulatingstrip overlapping and seated against the outer seat portions, spring means carried by the strip and cooperating with the inner seat portions to holdthe stripseated, and heatinsulating material interposed between the spring means and the inner seat portions.

3. In a refrigerator cabinet construction, inner and outer metallic walls separated by heat-insulating material and having outer seat portions and inwardly-extending flange portions, a non-.

hygroscopic and heat-insulating strip overlapping and seated against the outer seat portion, and spring means having grooves cooperating 40 with said flanges to maintain the strip in place.

4. In a refrigerator cabinet construction, inner and outer walls provided with margins having outer seats and inwardly-projecting flanges, a non-hygroscopic and heat insulating strip over- 45 lapping and seatedagainst said seats, clamping means connected to the strip and having recesses cooperating with the flanges to hold the strip and the walls in place. i

5. The combination as claimed in claim 4 with 5 heat-insulating material interposed between the recesses and the flanges.

6. In a refrigerator cabinet construction, inner and outer walls separated by heat-insulating material and provided with margins having outer 55 seats and inwardly-projecting flanges, an outer non-hygroscopic and heatinsulating strip overlapping and seated against said outer ,seats, an

inner spring strip secured to the outer strip and having side grooves cooperating withthe flanges to hold the outer strip and the inner and outer walls in place. I Y

7. The combination as claimed in claim 6 with a heat-insulating material interposed between the grooves and the flanges.

8. In a refrigerator cabinet construction, inner and outer walls separated by heat-insulating material and provided with margins having outer lapping and seated against said outer seats, an inner resilient strip of lattice-work formation having channel side members connected by cross bars, the channel side'members cooperating with said flanges to maintain the outer strip seated and to hold in place the outer strip and the inner and outer walls, and detachable means for connecting the inner and outer strips.

10. The combination as claimed in claim 9 wherein the innerstrip is made of metal having high resistance to heat transmission. 1

11. The combination as "claimed in claim 9 wherein heat-insulating material is interposed between the channels and the flanges.

12. A thermal seal between disconnected inner andouter metallic walls at the periphery of a door construction comprising a strip of nonhygroscopic material and spring: clamping means of thin metal secured to the strip, said spring clamping means'and the strip being constructed and arranged to hold edge portions of the walls and to maintain thestrip seated in overlapping relation with respect to the walls.

13. A thermal seal between disconnected inner and outer metallic walls at the periphery of a door construction comprising spring clamps of thin alloy steel of relatively low heat conducting qualities and strips of non-hygroscopic material, the spring clamps being fastened to the strips and engaging the inner surfaces of the inner and outer disconnected walls, the strips engaging the outer surfaces thereof.

GREGG F. FORSTHOEFEL. 

